If you would turn with me in the gospel of Luke to Luke chapter 23. You can find that on page 884 in your pew Bibles. Luke chapter 23. We’ll be starting with verse 26. The sermon title for tonight is, “Bitter the Sin, Sweet the Relief.” That comes from a line from Thomas Watson’s book, The Doctrine of Repentance, in which he wrote, “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” And over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at some of those things that cause us to lose hope. Things like fleeting peace and rejection, and a broken world, and unbelief and suffering. Those are things in which we have seen them on display in the world around us in ways that hit very close to home. Those are things that we have seen that Jesus experienced firsthand as He carried out His own ministry and as He made His way to the cross. There is so much that makes us ask questions like, “Why? How long?” There is much that discourages us.
But do you know what outweighs all of those things? When it comes to eroding our confidence, when it comes to testing our faith, do you know what is worse than all of those things? Sin. I’m not talking about the sin that’s out there. I’m not talking about the sin in the world around us. I’m talking about my own sin. I’m talking about my pride and my selfishness and my impatience. I’m talking about the apathy and the hardheartedness and the hypocrisy of my own heart. Why have I not grown more in sanctification? How long will I continue to struggle with those same old sins? Is there any hope for me? And yet is that not what the cross and the resurrection are all about? Because at the cross, we see the bitterness of sin. “It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished.” And we see at the cross the sweetness of Christ. “I will not boast in anything, no gifts no power no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.”
And so here we are on this Easter evening, we come in our study of the gospel of Luke to Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is the only place where we can find hope in the struggle against sin. This is the only place in which we can find a hope of forgiveness. And what we find in these verses that we will read tonight is simply what Jesus has done and what our response should be. So we’ll see two things. Our outline broadly – report and response. Before we look to God’s Word, let’s ask Him for His help.
Father, we thank You for the report of the good news of Jesus’ death and His resurrection. Help us not to miss it. Would You work by Your Spirit to draw us closer to Yourself, to maybe draw us for the first time to receive grace and mercy and to commit to You in faith. We thank You for the gifts of Your Gospel. We thank You for the gift of the Spirit. And we ask, speak Lord, for Your servants listen. We pray all of this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Luke chapter 23, starting in verse 26:
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’ And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.’ And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.”
Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of our God endures forever.
Report
Well there’s a lot going on here. And who are all of these people? People like Simon of Cyrene. He had come from the country. He had come from northern Africa from the city of Cyrene in what is now modern day Libya. We don’t know what it was that brought him to Jerusalem. We don’t know what it was that caused him to be plucked out of the crowd, but he was seized in order to carry the cross of Jesus in this procession that included Jesus at the front and then this group of women behind them, weeping and wailing as they went. And Jesus says to the women, “Don’t weep for Me. Weep for yourselves. Weep for your children. Because the days are coming when you will wish that they had never been born.” He says in verse 31, “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” In other words, if there is such violence and injustice when things are relatively good, how much worse will it be when everything falls apart?”
And then there are the criminals. These criminals on their crosses – one on Jesus’ right and the other on Jesus’ left. They actually were criminals. They were actually guilty of the offenses which they committed and for which they are hanging on the cross. And they are part of this larger group of mockers that are surrounding Jesus and lashing out at Him with sarcasm, saying things like, “He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, if He is the Chosen One! If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself! Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us,” they say at Jesus. But then one of the criminals, he stopped and he repented and he rebuked the other one. He said, “Do you not fear God? This man has done nothing wrong.” And he said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” “Today,” Jesus says, “truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
And then there’s the centurion. It had gotten dark in the middle of the day and the temple curtain had ripped in two as the whole creation lurched. Jesus cried out from the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And He took His last breath and He died. And this centurion, this officer of the Roman guard, he praised God and he said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” Now when he said that he is saying more than just expressing a legal opinion. He is saying more than just complaining about the injustice of Jesus’ crucifixion. No, he recognizes the uniqueness of Jesus. He is saying something about the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus. It seems like he gets it.
But then the crowd disperses and they are beating their breasts and we find Joseph of Arimathea. And we heard about Joseph on Good Friday evening, about how he requested to take possession of the body of Jesus after Jesus died. And this man, Joseph, was prominent. He was a member of the council. He was also a part of the faithful remnant of the people of Israel because it says in verse 50, he was a good and righteous man. He was looking for the kingdom of God. And yes, maybe he lacked courage at first, but some boldness emerged as his story went on. We don’t know what the whole story was, but he didn’t go along with popular opinion and he did not consent in the decision to put Jesus to death. And here we find him going all the way to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. It says in verse 53, “Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid it in a tomb cut in stone where no one had ever yet been laid.” And remember, as we heard on Friday, he was now unclean. There would be no more celebrating the Passover for Joseph of Arimathea. He would celebrate the Sabbath alone.
And then came the Sabbath. And then the first day of the week – chapter 24 verse 1. And we’re told that the women, Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the others with them, they made their way to Jesus’ tomb and found that He was not there. They went with their spices and their ointments. They went to embalm Him, to care for the body of Jesus. But when they got there, the stone was rolled away, the body was gone, and there were these angels – two men in dazzling apparel who told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead. And these women, they were terrified. They were terrified at first but then they left the tomb to go and to tell the eleven, to tell all the rest what they had seen, what they had heard. These women are the first witnesses to the resurrection. These women whose testimony would have been considered unreliable and whose testimony in this case was met with disbelief. It says in verse 11 that the rest thought the women were just speaking an “idle tale.” The word there means “nonsense.” “What are they talking about? They don’t know what they’re talking about,” is how they were perceived.
You’ve heard about “mansplaining” before? Mansplaining is that cute tendency that men have to be very helpful and experts on everything and happy to tell you about how they are experts on everything, or how we are experts on everything. There was probably some mansplaining going on here at this part in the story! “Do they not know what happens when a body dies and when a body is buried? The body does not come back to life.” The resurrection is nonsense to them. It’s an idle tale. And yet here are these women and they’re part of this collection of seemingly random, unknown, unlikely characters that were right there, step by step, as Jesus went from being condemned to being crucified to dead and buried and then raised from the grave.
And there’s a technique in movies and in film making, it’s called a MacGuffin. I won’t go into all the details of why it’s called a MacGuffin, but a MacGuffin is an object, it’s a character or even an event, that’s introduced into the story to move the plot along. But the MacGuffin itself may not be that significant in the end. It may not have that much to do with the overall point of the story. A MacGuffin.
Now these people are not MacGuffins, but in this part of the story, they seem like a significant part of the story, they seem like a significant point of the whole thing – and they are important and we can learn much from how they respond and how they react in these verses. But you know what? They’re not the main point. And there’s so much more we want to know about these people. We want to know more about their stories; we want to know more about why they’re there and what happened after the fact. And in fact, there have been efforts throughout history to enshrine these figures with legendary status. Most of them have been venerated as saints in the Catholic and Orthodox church. There’s St. Simon and St. Joseph and St. Mary. And the rest of their stories are told in apocryphal or false gospels like the gospel of Nicodemus or the gospel of Thomas. They’re these imaginative feats that are added to their stories. There’s something of the miraculous or superstitious relics that are connected to their names. Surely, surely there’s more to these people than just what we’re told here in these verses, but this is basically all that we have about them.
But in all of these names, in all of these details, in all of the dialogue that we find in these verses – think about it, in all of the lead up from the beginning of this gospel to this moment in particular, don’t miss the main point of this passage. Don’t miss the main point of the whole gospel and how it is actually told with an amazing simplicity and restraint. In fact, you can basically summarize, you can pair down the main gist of this passage into two short phrases. Chapter 23 verse 33 – “There they crucified Him.” Chapter 24 verse 6 – “He is not here but has risen.” Think about that. Think about all of the implications of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Think about all of the buildup and celebration of Easter – the orchestra and the flowers and the new clothes that we put on for Easter. Think about all the build up to it and how our faith is staked on this event and this gospel merely says, “There they crucified Him. He is not here but has risen.” There’s nothing about the blood and the guts and the anguish. There’s nothing about how Jesus was raised. There’s nothing about how the stone was rolled away from the tomb. It’s just this – Jesus was crucified and He is risen.
Isn’t that almost shocking? When it comes to describing the crucifixion, all that Luke says, “There they crucified Him.” That’s it! Think about it. One fourth of the gospel of Luke is focused on the last week or so of Jesus’ life. but the story of around 33 years of Jesus’ life and ministry, and twenty-five percent of it is devoted to just a few days, so much so that one writer says that the gospels are essentially “passion narratives with extended introductions.” This is the main thing. This is the whole point. It’s what it’s all about. And what does it say? “There they crucified Him.” That’s it. It’s so simple. It’s so simple.
And it’s the same way with the report of the resurrection as well. All of it is so straightforward and uncomplicated. And that’s the point. That’s the best part of it. The message of the Gospel, the good news, is actually quite basic. It’s that Jesus died on the cross and He was raised from the dead. It’s not about aligning ourselves with a whole school of philosophy. It’s not about following a set of rules or achieving the four noble truths. It’s not about embracing a certain culture or ethnicity. It’s not even about mastering a system of theology. It’s not about that.
I was talking to a friend recently and he is a pastor in another church. And they were going through a pastoral search. And on the application, one of the questions that they asked applicants was to list their three favorite books. And he said that they actually had some people – they wanted to know a little bit more about the person that was applying by hearing what their three favorite books were. They actually had some people on the application list the Bible, the Trinity Hymnal, and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Now that’s great, those are great books, but that doesn’t tell us anything about that person. That’s too much theology for an application. When we get to this passage and there’s really not that much “theology” in it – anyone can understand the message of this passage; anyone can understand the message of the Gospel. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that what’s so wonderful about the good news? It’s that Jesus died and was raised. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That’s it. To save us from our sins. To be saved from death. To be saved to eternal life. All that it takes is to believe what is here in these verses in such beautiful simplicity. Jesus died. He was crucified. And He was raised. “He is not here, but has risen!” The Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is based on basic historical fact. It is an event that happened 2,000 years ago. It doesn’t have to be embellished. It doesn’t have to be exaggerated. It doesn’t have to be polished up. What has been done is done, and that is the best part of all of it. Jesus has done it. The cross and the resurrection are what Jesus has done. He did it. It is finished. The good news is that what we need for forgiveness, what we need to be restored to God and to have victory over the grave and to receive all of God’s blessings for eternity, Jesus has done it. Jesus paid it all. There is nothing that we can do to undo it. There is nothing that we can do to add to it. There’s nothing that we can do to make it better. It’s done. It’s finished. All that it calls for, all that it calls for is to receive it as a gift; to receive salvation by faith. That’s the plea tonight. That’s the plea on this Easter evening is to receive it. To receive that gift of salvation that comes to us in such simple, basic facts as Jesus died and was raised. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Response
That leads us to the response – the second thing for this passage. Did you notice who is missing from these verses? I should say mostly missing. There are all sorts of people in this story. Here is Jesus in the depths of His suffering, the climax of the Gospel. There’s Simon, the criminals, the centurion, and Joseph and these women – and no disciples. They are nowhere to be found. The last thing we heard anything about Jesus’ disciples was on the night that He was arrested and Peter denied that he had anything to do with Jesus. They are nowhere to be found. They are nowhere to be found during His trial. They are nowhere to be found on the way to the cross. They are nowhere to be found as He is placed in the grave. Isn’t that when they should step up and tend to the needs that Jesus had? Or at least to the needs of His dead body? But they weren’t there. And even when they heard about the empty tomb, even when they heard about the message of the angels and the message of the women that Jesus had been raised from the dead, what did they do? Verse 11, chapter 24, “These words seemed to them an idle tale. They did not believe them.” They did not believe it. They did not believe them.
“But” – “But Peter.” Verse 12 says, “But Peter rose and he ran to the tomb, and stooping and looking in he saw the linen cloths by themselves. And he went home marveling at what had happened.” The last word we heard about Peter was him denying Jesus. And he heard the rooster crow. And in chapter 22 it says, “He went out and he wept bitterly.” We could talk about that phrase, “wept bitterly.” It’s “eklausen pikrōs.” It’s a weeping. It’s a wailing that’s gut wrenching. It’s a weeping that is embarrassing really. Molly will tell you that I don’t cry. It’s just not something that I do. Some of you know that back in the fall we dropped our oldest son off at college and I fell apart – just between us! And it was embarrassing, really. It was “eklausen pikrōs.” And that was Peter. But then the next thing we hear about Peter is that he visited the empty tomb and he went home “marveling at what had happened.” And we could talk about that word “marveling.” It’s the Greek word “thaumazōn.” “Thaumazōn” is wonder, it’s awe, it’s astonishment. Usually it’s related to something that is miraculous or incredible. Mary and Joseph marveled at the things the shepherds told them about Jesus. The people in Nazareth marveled at the teaching that came from Jesus’ mouth. The disciples marveled when Jesus calmed the winds and the waves with a word. And here is Peter. He is marveling at the empty tomb of Jesus.
We could talk about the weeping bitterly and the marveling. What I want to focus on is that word “but.” Let’s just – this one little word, “but Peter.” “ha de Petras.” The Greek is “de.” It’s a little tiny particle. It’s a seemingly generic conjunction, and yet there is a world of change in that little word, “but.” There’s grace and there’s mercy and there’s renewal and there’s comfort and there’s hope in the little word, “but.” “But Peter.” Peter denied Jesus. He went away and he wept bitterly, but…”But Peter rose and ran to the tomb and he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened.”
You see, Peter’s failure was not the end of the story for Peter. There’s a “but” in his story and it represents the grace of God in his life. Peter believed, and Peter would be restored into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be given a leading role in the witness of the resurrection and the growth of the early church. Not perfectly of course, but God’s grace was greater than all of his sin. And that’s true for us as well. Our failure, our sin isn’t the end of our own stories. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” “But God shows His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace we have been saved.” There’s no hope for sinners, you know, but – but Jesus died on the cross and He was raised from the dead and that’s enough. That’s enough. “Father, forgive them,” was Jesus’ cry from the cross. His commission later in chapter 24 is that the “Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations.” There is hope for sinners. There is hope for sinners because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now if you know the story of Thomas Cranmer, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1556, you’ve probably heard in his story about how he was condemned to die with a number of the other reformers at that time. And when he was condemned to die, he renounced his belief in the doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. He did it to try to spare his life. And his signed denial was copied and it was spread around publicly. But then as the day of his execution approached, he strongly felt the anguish of his failure and the grief of his wavering convictions. And what he did was he recanted of his recanting. And as he was sent to the stake to burn as a martyr, he held out his hand into the flame, first of all. And as he held out his hand into the flame he kept repeating over and over again, this hand that had signed the original denial, “This unworthy hand, this unworthy right hand.” And then quoting Stephen from the book of Acts, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he died.
But you see, it wasn’t Cranmer holding out his hand to be burned in the fire that was his hope in the face of failure. No, we actually see that hope in what he prayed before he went to the fire, before he went to the stake. And what he prayed was this. He said, “O Father of heaven, have mercy on me. To Thee, O Lord, do I run. To Thee do I humble myself saying, ‘O Lord my God, my sins be great, but yet have mercy upon me for Thy great mercy.’” This is where we really see his hope. He prayed this. He said, “The great mystery that God became man was not wrought for little or few offenses. Thou did not give Thy Son, O Heavenly Father, undo death for small sins only, but for all the greatest sins of the world so that the sinner return to Thee with his whole heart as I do at present. Wherefore have mercy on me, O God.”
You see, there’s no failure too great and there’s no faith too small because Jesus bled and died and because Jesus rose from the grave. And that’s enough. That’s enough. And He will show mercy to all those who turn to Him for mercy. There is hope for Cranmers and there’s hope for Peters and there’s hope for you if you would just rest in the grace, in the mercy, in the forgiveness of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Let’s pray.
Our Father, we run to You for mercy and for grace. We know no other way. There is no other way. We renounce our own efforts, our own merit, our own worthiness, our own success, anything that would puff up or build up our pride. We turn away from all those things. And in the weakness of our faith, yet we cling to You and to the gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. Show mercy to us, Father. Restore to us the joy of salvation. Help us to know the goodness of what Christ has done for us, to rejoice in that, and to serve You with joy. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name, amen.